how important is it to run your car for a few minutes before turning it off or is the use of a turbo timer? is this only nessessary when your boosting like mad or is it a must all the time? sorry for the newbie question but ive read some on here and was under the impression that a turbo timer is wasted money? if you drive your car from point a to point b and you only boost every so often and when you get where your going you turn the car off are you hurting anything? i know if you redline it the whole way and than turn your car off while the turbo is still glowing red that can hurt things but i would thing moderate boost wouldnt do a thing? what do the pro's say?

I let it cool down when I boost like mad, let's say a long pull and then I park. If I am driving without boosting for 3 mins, I just turn it off right away cause I just don't wanna waste gas. I use to do a mandatory 30 sec cool down but like fuck it.

i always let it time down from 30sec . if i boost real hard i usually give it like 2min

i usually let it cool down for about 30 sec too but i was wondering if its harmfull if you dont? i mean as long as your not boostin away i dont see what it hurts, i agree with the first guy if you just got done with a long hard pull you dont just shut it down while the turbo is glowing red but if your driving to work and only boost while passing people on the free way and than you get to work you shut her down i dont think you are hurting a thing but i dont know for sure thats why im asking for those that do know.

I always run my turbo timer at 1min unless I drive on the highway boosting like MAAD, I do 2mins.

considering that factory turbo cars do not even have a timer
i would think that normal driving would be ok

i still let the timer turn it off but only because id forget to turn it back on

Originally posted by baxsom
considering that factory turbo cars do not even have a timer i would think that normal driving would be ok

90% of factory cars have a water cooled turbo, the point at which coking would occure is almost non-existent. So you can see why with a non-water cooled turbo you should time it. My rule of thumb has been if my egt's are over 900^f when I come to a stop/idle then I time it.

Or you could water cool ours by tapping into the heater lines, either way isn't a timer just to let the turbine slow down before depriving the turbo of oil/water? Whats the worst case scenerio? New bearings? Aren't they only like 20 bucks from hahn?

it keeps fresh oil pumping through the turbine until it cools down enough to not bake the oil still in it

if the turbine is hot and you just shut off the engine the oil that is sitting on the bearing will cook and get hard

In my honest opinion turbo timers arent expensive and why not spend a little money to help safeguard a vital part of your car. Thats why I bought mine. (Waiting to Install though)

ok everyone seems to be a fan of the turbo timer so i believe i will follow suit and get one thanks for everyones input

Originally posted by joeck76
ok everyone seems to be a fan of the turbo timer so i believe i will follow suit and get one thanks for everyones input

Is your turbo water cooled or not?

It can be but currently no it is not.

my turbo cost 1000 bucks. i will use my 100 dollar turbo timer to cool it down.

Originally posted by grain
my turbo cost 1000 bucks. i will use my 100 dollar turbo timer to cool it down.

Well if you'd water cool your turbo you wouldn't have to worry about the 100 dollar timer :P

I somewhat agree... however, watercooled or not, you still shouldn't shut down the engine while it's super hot.

this was the whole question in this post from the get go, the key word in your statment was super hot, i believe we all know you should not shut your engine down while the turbo is glowing red because you just got done with 10 long pulls @20psi. this whole question came to be cause i didnt not feel it was nessessary to run your car for a bit if you have not been boostin or if you hit like 3 lbs of boost once on your way to work to pass some fool going 30 in a 55. alot of times i will drive to work normally and neve even boost more than 0-2 psi and like i said only time i do is on the highway passing people, when i get to work i just shut her down and was wondering if it was hurting anything? now i know if i race a gs-t, mustang or whatever on my way to work and im going a buck 40 the whole way boostin away at about 10psi its not good to get there and just shut her down (this i know to be very bad and can cause serious damage to your turbine) i guess the question should be when should you use a turbo timer

a)all the time on all turbo applications not using water cooled reguardless of driving habits
b) only when boostin regularly or running high amounts of boost (over 6psi)
c) anytime you drive your car even if you dont go into boost or boost under 2psi
d) all of the above

If the turbo IS NOT water cooled I would time it when-

1. Just came off the highway boosting a little bit and parking the car. I would time for like 1 minute

2. Boosting like crazy hard pulls and then pull in and stop. I would time this for like 2 - 3 minutes.

Pretty much, if my turbo wasn't watercooled I would have a turbo timer.

Mine is water cooled and I only Shut it off if the egts are less than 900*. It's funny how much cooler the turbo runs when watercooled :) I mean, it's there for a reason. :thumbsup

dumb question but when you water cool it is there still a need for an intercooler?? can you or should you do both?

the water cools the turbo, and the intercooler cools the air that goes in the engine

Thank you sir